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WITH COURAGE,
YOUR PASSION CANNOT BE DOUSED


ncertainty is an inevitable condition throughout life. While we would like to get
up each day to face this perpetual unknown with courage, all too often, we feel
dis-couraged. Discouragement saps our energy and resolve. Maybe thats why the
Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
Accepting the impossibility of knowing the future, of predicting an outcome,
requires enormous courage. Yet, rarely do our parents, much less society, prepare us
how to confront this elusive predicament by teaching us about the virtue of courage.
While courage is generally defined as facing and dealing with danger or
difficulty, for me the essence of courage is a spiritual energy from the heart that in
defining moments motivates a person to take action. In other words, its when a
situation requires you to step up and display the authentic you, and you do!
My desire to share this energy source guided me to write a book titled
COURAGE: The Heart and Spirit of Every Woman/Reclaiming the Forgotten Virtue. My
premise that only ten to twelve percent of women would identify themselves as
courageous was validated after collecting over 700 surveys. During the early stages of
conducting my research, I looked the word courage up in the dictionary. To my
amazement, I discovered the origin, corage, was medieval Old French, meaning heart
and spirit. Acting from my heart had always been how I chose to design and confront
issues that emerged on my road of uncertainty. I realized then that courage was the
guiding light that I used to hurdle obstacles and confront barriers.
My experiences about living in uncertainty are similar to those of others who
encounter the normal bumps and bruises of living. The transitions in my life, whether
day-to-day common issues such as dealing with the frustration that prices keep going
up and up, or feeling agitated with a clients idiosyncrasies, or coping with more
serious crises, I learned to approach each challenge with an allymy courage. I
vowed that nothing was going to douse my passion. Protecting my passion required
me to bundle a combination of courageous actions. Micro goal setting, continual
learning, and being mindful of defining moments are a few of those components.
Courage was the source of heartiness that served me well. I refuse to be
limited by the common, self-imposed limitation: no energy, no heart, no courage.
U When I decided to write a book on courage, I had already made four drastic career
changes in the fields of education, real estate, banking, and speaking/training. Each
time I changed from one career to the next, I was required to reinvent myself. Twice
I moved to a city where I knew only one or two people. I had to find a suitable place
to live, make quality friends, establish rapport with peers, develop business contacts,
and of course earn a living. The key ingredient to my approach to all this change was
the desire always to strive to step up to the next level of progress and personal
growth. Frankly, I was unwilling to let anyone else design my life. Passion soars when
courage is reclaimed.
Goals Are Footprints
Designing your life means that you manifest a vision and set goals. Living life with
verve placed me on the edge, and living on the edge meant that complacency played
no part in my course of action. For many years, while conducting seminars or
facilitating executive Courage Coaching, I would ask participants: How many of
you have ever had a great idea? A good idea? They always looked at me with a smile
that seemed to say, Who hasnt, you silly fool? I would agree with them that most
people have good ideas but, unfortunately, most people do not know how to
implement their ideas, much less maintain the tenacity required to produce the
ultimate result. Operating at the next level entails recognizing that your potential is
limited only by which of two alternatives you choose: self-determination or self-
limitation.
Linda, a colleague of mine, challenges herself each year to make new goals
happen, holding herself accountable for the experiences in her life. Each September
she takes a self-exploration vacation to Wyoming. There, surrounded by the
beautiful Grand Teton Mountains, she ponders her agenda. One year she decided to
explore a series of unlimited questions. What would I do differently if I had
unlimited time, unlimited money, unlimited market share, unlimited knowledge, etc?
Her answers to these questions were less than satisfying, since she realized in most
ways she had achieved unlimited time, unlimited money, and unlimited market share.
These were not the things that presented barriers to satisfaction with her life. These
were the wrong questions.
Near the last day of her vacation, while walking around Jenny Lake, she came
up with a better question. What if I had unlimited courage? This turned out to be
the right question. As she resumed her regular workaday routine, she immediately
began to apply courage in all aspects of her life. Soon she began to feel noticeably
greater satisfaction with her work and relationships, and inner peace as she applied her growing courage to daily problems. Later she wondered if her insight had been
from cosmic sources; three months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which
required a full measure of her newly activated courage. Linda now feels that courage
is a part of her success toolbox, and that consciously and courageously setting goals
generates the footprints of a fulfilling life.
Challenging ourselves to raise the bar to the next rung requires us to ask a
somewhat daunting question: How am I holding myself back from accomplishing
my goals?
A participant in one of my seminars came up with this reinforcement, Write
your goals. The paper wont forget. Research states that only two-to-three-percent
of people write down their goals. A few years ago, while instructing goal-setting
classes, I signed-up for a program in which the instructor listed seven major life
categories on the white board: financial, spiritual, career, mental, physical, family, and
recreation. We were to pick one of the major categories and identify our life goal in
that category. I picked career, with writing a non-fiction bestseller as my goal in
that category. Then we were to list all the specific action steps required to
immediately start the ball rolling. After completing the list, we were to put the
required steps in order of what needed to be started first, followed by the subsequent
actions. I listed eight specific goals involving how I was going to learn to write and
design my book. Identifying the goals energized me. I left the seminar determined to
carry out those goals.
Several of the actions, such as buying a book about how to write a book
proposal and formulating an outline for my manuscript, were accomplished in less
than three months, while others took years. I surveyed and interviewed women for
more than three years, and five years later, to the month, my goal that began with
listing the required action steps produced a finished product, a book on women and
courage.
My courageous will made this life goal possible. Believe me when I say I had
no idea how to write, design or publish a book. I dont even enjoy writing; I prefer
speaking to express my ideas. This is when the ability to use courage to manifest
vision comes into play. Carl Jung said, Your vision will become clear only when you
look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakens.
I was determined that I would indeed look inside myself and awaken. Self-
limitations were not going to sway me from accomplishing my lifes purpose. Little
did I know that this fifth career would require me to muster all the courage I
possessed. Many times, as the saying goes, the light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming train. Yet, once I picked myself up and shook myself awake, I remembered
what the great mystic Osho from India said:
You cannot be truthful if you are not courageous.
You cannot be loving if you are not courageous.
You cannot be trusting if you are not courageous.
You cannot enter into reality if you are not courageous.
Hence, courage comes firstand everything else follows.
Writing down goals has always been a vital part of my success quotient. No
short cuts are allowed on the journey; otherwise, I shortcut the footprints of my life.
A colleague shared in a presentation a study found in the book, Adversity Quotient by
Paul Stoltz. The author wrote that about twenty percent of people dont want much
in life. They quit before they start. Another sixty-five percent of folks set their goals
but stop during the climb. They settle before they reach the top of the mountain. The
remaining fifteen percent set their goal, and begin the climb, but keep asking, Do I
want this? Then, after reevaluating the difficulty to finish the climb, they decide if
the sacrifice is worth the goal. They refuel and continue out of conscious choice,
settling is not an option for these folks.
Wandering about without a vision leads to disappointment. I dislike this
emotional zone. Success is earned by learning. Armed with my courage, I prefer to
forge ahead straight toward my desired goal. When I am proactive (taking the bull by
the horns) versus reactive (waiting for the bull to put his horns in my hands), I am
able to say, I did it my way. There is a definite correlation betw